Following a jury trial, Preston Whiting was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, and various other offenses in connection with the shooting death of Quentin Denley and the shooting of Faron Daniels.[1] On appeal Whiting contends that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on proximate

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causation and that his trial counsel was ineffective. We affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, the evidence reveals that, on the morning of June 12, 2008, Ted Day drove Whiting, Lincoln Boykins, and Donald Hatton fro College Park to a Cobb County subdivision where Whiting wished to purchase marijuana. Whiting and Boykins rang the doorbell at a home in the subdivision, and Denley greeted the men at the door. Whiting asked [296 Ga. 430] Denley for a lighter, which Denley retrieved for him, along with a bag of marijuana. Boykins then pulled out a .380 semiautomatic handgun and shot Denley. Whiting and Boykins ran back to Day's car, and they drove back to College Park. A neighbor who had heard the gunshot called 911. Denley was rushed to the hospital, where he died from his gunshot wound.

Later that same evening, Whiting returned to Cobb County with Boykins, Hatton, and four other individuals, and this time Whiting was driving Day's car. After Whiting dropped off two women who were with the group and picked up two others, Hatton started saying that he wanted to shoot someone. Hatton pulled out Boykins' handgun, and Whiting pulled over the car. Hatton then jumped out of the car, approached the first person he saw, Daniels, and shot Daniels three times. Daniels was hit in the leg, hip, and buttocks, but he survived. Hatton got back in the car, and Whiting drove away.

Soon after the Daniels shooting, Whiting stopped the car and began arguing with Hatton. In the meantime, police officers who were responding to a call about the Daniels shooting saw Day's car and realized that it matched the description of the car that had fled the scene of the Daniels shooting. The officers turned on their blue lights and siren, and Whiting sped off. After a high-speed chase, Whiting lost control of the vehicle and ran off the road and down an embankment. The car came to a rest near a fence, and then Whiting attempted to flee on foot. However, he was chased down and apprehended by police officers.

This evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Whiting guilty of all of the crimes of which he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560) (1979); see also OCGA § 16-2-20 (parties to a crime).

2. Whiting contends that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury sua sponte on the issue of proximate causation in connection with its charge on felony murder. Because Whiting did not object to the trial court's charge on felony murder, our review of this contention is limited to plain error. See OCGA § 17-8-58 (absent specific objection to the jury charge or the failure to give a charge appellate review limited to plain error).

Regardless of our level of review, however, Whiting cannot show any reversible error in the trial court's charge here, plain or otherwise. The record reveals that the indictment charged Whiting with felony murder based on having caused the death of Denley by shooting him while in the commission of a criminal conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The trial court read the indictment to the jury [296 Ga. 431] and fully and properly instructed them on felony murder,[2] ...

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